It was already late at night.
The casino was still as lively as ever, but the streets outside had grown quiet.
Even in such a prosperous city-state, only a few shops still had their lights on.
"Come on, Robin! We have to meet up with everyone quickly!"
Nami and Robin ran down the streets, each carrying several shopping bags filled to bursting—they'd been out shopping all evening.
Halfway through their spree, they'd heard a thunderous explosion.
A bad premonition hit Nami's heart immediately, and they dropped everything to rush back toward the Filven Grand Tavern.
As soon as they reached the street in front of the tavern, they ran right into Laina and the others walking out.
"Laina! Oh, thank goodness—you're all okay!"
Nami sprinted up, panting heavily as she looked around the group.
"Where's Luffy?!"
"Don't know." ×5
Everyone answered at once, then all turned their heads in unison—staring toward the direction of the distant firelight.
Following their gaze, Nami's face darkened as she bellowed with hands on her hips,
"You idiots! How could all of you lose track of Luffy?!"
Everyone looked away immediately. Now was not the time to argue with her.
"Wait, Nami," Robin said gently, "let's go confirm first. It might not be the captain."
Robin still called everyone formally except for Nami—old habits of her professional demeanor.
Nami took a deep breath, calming down slightly.
Finally, they decided to split into two groups:
One would check the site of the explosion,
and the other would head to the port and get the Going Merry ready—just in case.
"I can make the ship move with the undead. I'll go to the port."
"The Merry is in your hands, Laina."
"Mm. See you at the rendezvous point."
Laina summoned his undead falcon, hopped onto its back, and—since Nami refused to be left behind—she climbed on with her bags too.
The falcon leapt from the ground, wings spread wide as it soared toward the port.
From the sky, they could already see rows of soldiers below, marching toward the source of the flames.
"Laina… he won't be in trouble, right?" Nami asked worriedly, watching the scene below.
During the flight, Laina had already summoned his Mage Undead to spread out with Observation Haki, scanning for any trace of Luffy's presence.
But there was nothing.
That heavy feeling in Nami's heart grew stronger.
"Relax," Laina said quietly. "Luffy's strong. Have a little faith in him."
It was all he could do to reassure her now.
At the port, Laina handed a pass token—purchased earlier from the guards—to the dock official.
Once aboard the Merry, he summoned Fishman Undead to help operate the ship.
Under Nami's command, the crew began working efficiently.
They sailed east along the coast toward a cliffside inlet.
According to the map, the spot was secluded—perfect for hiding the ship—and was also the meeting point they'd agreed on earlier.
"Honestly…" Nami huffed on the upper deck, cheeks puffed in anger.
"You all know Luffy causes trouble! Why didn't you keep an eye on him?!"
"If Luffy could be kept in check, he wouldn't be Luffy," Laina said dryly. "I believe in world peace more than that."
"You'd better hope he didn't start this! Or else—!"
Nami clenched her fists, eyes blazing.
Seeing that, Laina wisely slipped away in silence.
A while later, they reached the base of the cliff.
The Fishman Undead raised the sails and dropped anchor.
Looking up, the cliff wasn't very tall—but tall enough to hide the Merry.
"Let's go."
Laina wrapped an arm around Nami's waist, then lightly leapt up the cliffside.
Before them stretched rows of short green crops, about a meter tall, resembling sugarcane with long drooping leaves.
"What's this?" Nami asked, kneeling to inspect one. "I've never seen it before. Is it a local specialty?"
"Stop right there!"
"Don't move!"
Before she could look closer, several angry shouts echoed from the distance.
Looking up, they saw a familiar silhouette running toward them.
At the lead, grinning wide as ever, was none other than Monkey D. Luffy!
"Hey, Laina! Nami!"
"I knew it was you!" Nami's face twisted in rage, veins bulging.
"Hehehe…"
"Hehe, your head!!!"
Duang!!!
"Sorry~~" Luffy whimpered, face swollen and bruised after Nami's "discipline session."
"This isn't the time! We should get going first." Laina's eyes narrowed, spotting the army closing in behind Luffy.
They all jumped back aboard the Merry.
Laina's undead reeled up the anchor, and the ship began gliding away from the coast.
"Open fire!"
A silver-armored officer raised his sword, and a hail of gunfire followed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Luffy jumped up, taking a deep breath.
"Gomu Gomu no… Balloon!"
"Over there! They've got a bazooka!"
Chopper pointed his hoof at a soldier aiming a rocket launcher—the round was already flying toward them.
Whoosh~~
"Wow, they've got weapons like that here?" Laina muttered, surprised—but then remembered the Donquixote Family's base was in this region. It made sense.
The Mage Undead raised his staff, summoning a violent sandstorm.
BOOM!!!
The explosion's shockwave blasted through the air, pushing the Merry even farther out to sea.
More shells followed—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Zoro leapt up, drawing his swords in one smooth motion.
"Santoryu: 36 Caliber Phoenix!"
The green-blue air slash spiraled outward, slicing every shell midair.
"Oh-ho! Flying slashes now, Zoro?" Laina grinned.
"Heh, just learned it. Still rusty," Zoro replied, half-proud.
With their four main fighters working together, the Merry soon escaped beyond the range of the enemy's fire.
"Hey, Luffy! What did you do this time?!"
Nami tugged his ear furiously.
"This was supposed to be a vacation! The Log Pose wasn't even full yet! Every time you disappear for one second, you cause chaos!"
"Seriously, what happened?" Laina asked, half-amused.
Luffy crossed his arms, face full of confidence.
"I forgot to pay for my food!"
"???"
Everyone: "Huh?!"
You forgot to pay for a meal, and somehow the entire nation's army is chasing you?!
Luffy just laughed. "Then they tried to arrest me! They took me to a factory and said I had to work there for the rest of my life, so I ran away."
"Work for life?"
"You could've just paid them! You had money!"
"They took my two million Berries but still wanted to lock me up!"
Through Luffy's jumbled story, the picture became clear.
The city guards had initially just wanted him to pay the bill—but once they learned he was a pirate, they confiscated his money and tried to force him into labor.
Luffy, naturally, broke out. The explosion came from him wrecking the factory on his way out.
Because "something in there felt bad."
A little reckless—but Laina understood what that factory really was.
Judging by how the guards reacted to pirates and the strange plants they'd seen, it was almost certainly a Donquixote Family operation.
The man he'd fought earlier—also from the Family—had been posing as a port officer.
This whole country was probably deeply entangled with the Don Quixotes.
"The plants near the coast," Chopper added, "I smelled the same scent in that factory. They're called Martine Leaves. They used to be used to make psychoactive drugs, but the World Government banned them because of their addictive properties."
Laina thought back to the casino, the port, the soldiers—and the twisted smuggler he'd killed.
Everything fit.
He'd killed a Family officer without realizing the scale of their operation.
Meanwhile, Luffy—by pure accident—had blown the cover off the entire underground supply chain.
Genius.
He could give that detective kid from next door a run for his money.
"Speaking of which," Robin said suddenly, "I've heard of this place. Crocodile once mentioned it—the Donquixote Family has strong ties here. The warlord behind them rules from the New World. This nation's military power comes from its support."
Everyone immediately understood what kind of "products" she was referring to.
And the weaker trio went pale.
"A Warlord?!"
"Why is it always a Warlord?!"
"Luffy, you idiot!" Nami screamed, fists shaking. "We just beat one, and now you've dragged another one down on us! Do you have a personal vendetta with the Seven Warlords or something?!"
"Hehehe."
"Stop laughing!!!"
The Warlord Killer. Terrifying as ever.
"Come to think of it," Laina murmured, glancing at his bone-chain sword, "Arlong was connected to the Warlords too. There's a Fishman among them—'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe. A really strong one."
"Nani!!!"
"Wait, wait… let me count." Usopp's fingers trembled. "One… two… four—FOUR! We've run into four Warlords already!"
"Nani!!!" Chopper's eyes bulged in horror.
He'd watched the Crocodile fight from the sidelines—he knew how bad that was.
If all the Warlords were that strong...
"We're doomed," he whimpered, collapsing to the floor. "The reindeer's finished… sob…"
"Four?" Robin blinked in surprise. She and Chopper had joined after entering the Grand Line—they didn't know about Mihawk or Arlong.
Mihawk wouldn't come after them—he only had business with Zoro.
But Jinbe...
Laina looked down again at the bone-chain sword.
If Jinbe ever found out he'd flayed and soul-bound Arlong, that… might get awkward.
Anyway, Sanji broke in, snapping everyone back, what about our Log Pose? It didn't record the island yet.